The Greek folktale "Phaethon" teaches the lesson of what happens when one does not listen to others and take heed of warnings. At first Phaethon only wants to prove his birth from the Sun God Apollo to his friends. However when he reaches his father's house he starts to become hot headed, which almost results in the destruction of the world. His father, being a kind and loving god, offers his son Phaethon whatever he wants as proof that he is indeed his son. Phaethon knows he could take many things, but he only has eyes for the greatest treasure of all: his father’s sun chariot. This choice shows Phaeton's greed and his desire to prove the best. He asked his father to let him ride the chariot across the sky for a day so that he could prove to all how powerful he was. Apollo warned his son against this and gave him many reasons why he should not, but the ignorant son did not care. Phaethon in his need to prove himself forced his father to keep his promise and rode off with the horses the next day. The second that Phaethon was out of Apollo’s palace, the horses found that they were free without the strength of a god to control them. Then Phaethon realized all the warnings he had gotten were coming true and he started to panic. The horses ran free among the stars, then next to the earth, burning it with their heat. The other gods saw this and had to stop it before the earth was destroyed. So Zeus, the king of the gods, shot down young Phaethon with a lightening bolt, and the horses ran back home. The Sun god wept, for he had believed this was going to be Phaethon’s fate when his son first asked for the chariot. Phaethon, like most, did not want to cause harm (or, in his case, destruction), but when he failed to listen to the council of others he become dangerous. Zeus made a fair choice in striking down the young boy, for surely if he did not, Phaethon would have become more reckless and continued to disregard others' advice.
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